


Total eclipse of a heart

by Talokina



Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Heartbreak, Post-Wonder Woman (2017), Wonder Woman 1984, Wonder Woman 1984 Speculation, wonder woman 2 speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21960805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talokina/pseuds/Talokina
Summary: What are you doing to him?” Diana asks, gritting her teeth. How ironic this is. She is bound by her own weapon, held by the man she loves and who seems to hate her right now.“How fickle minds can be. One nudge is all it took for your beloved spy to come to my side.” Lord explains to her casually, a satisfied grin on his lips.Diana never expected Steve to be her enemy. She never expected Lord to be so powerful.
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Steve Trevor
Kudos: 14





	Total eclipse of a heart

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas y'all, i had an angsty idea in mind and decided to share it with the world.

The sound of Steve’s panting mixes with the clicking of her boots and the buzzing of the lights as they creep through the empty base. There’s only one level and it has a long, corridor-like shape, meaning that there is only one way: forward. 

It is quiet, too quiet. After they met and dealt with the army on their way through the desert, Diana assumed that they were just their welcome party. Apparently, she was wrong.

It doesn’t surprise her that Maxwell Lord turned out to be their adversary and not their ally. People in power always crave more. Nothing good had come out of his expedition with Barbara. Choices were made, lives were ruined, and now it was up to them to right this wrong.

Diana and Steve come across shelves weighed down by books and files. From the corner of her eye, she sees Steve eyeing a large tome, bound in leather, the inscription barely visible. She smiles at his curiosity, but she doubts that they would find any valuable information. Lord is too clever for this. This base was a red herring, if she ever saw one. Who knows what he’s doing right now… Diana curses herself for following this dead end.

The static noise coming from nowhere startles them both. Steve, standing next to her, is tilting his head, as if he’s trying to find the source that broke the silence. A lone TV is standing on a table, the source of the noise. Diana turns it on.

“Congratulations, Miss. Prince. You did just what I wanted you to do.” Maxwell Lord’s sleek salesman voice fills the room and Diana glares at the screen. He’s sitting in an armchair, his hands folded, looking as if they’d just started an interview for a job. This must have been recorded in advance, so she bites her tongue; there is no use answering him. Sparing a quick glance from the TV to Steve, she sees him focused on the screen.

“You seem to have everything you’ve always wanted.” Lord purrs and Diana can’t help but look at Steve. Her first love. Her miracle. “Now let me tell you what I want.”

The lights go out and for a small moment, she flinches, confused and alarmed. This is all it takes to turn this into a nightmare.

Her breath hitches as she feels an unfamiliar warmth around her arms and torso. She can’t move. Dread coils in her stomach as she thinks: this is wrong. No, no, stop!

The lights return, but Diana wishes they hadn’t. She wants to banish the image of Steve standing in front of her, trapping her with her lasso. She wants to erase the hatred and disdain that burn in his blue eyes. She wants to ignore the fact that he’s currently on an opposite side. Her enemy.

“Not so wondrous after all,” Steve sneers, “my love.” These two words, uttered with sarcasm and disgust, burn more than the lasso.

“I want you under control.” Not only Steve, but two voices spoke. At first Diana stares at the TV, but it is off. Maxwell Lord, in the flesh, stands next to Steve, keeping a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing to him?” Diana asks, gritting her teeth. How ironic this is. She is bound by her own weapon, held by the man she loves and who seems to hate her right now.

“How fickle minds can be. One nudge is all it took for your beloved spy to come to my side.” Lord explains to her casually, a satisfied grin on his lips. “I’ve always known how to play people, how to read their wishes and desires. The game has just become so much easier.” The artifact he has found, it must have changed him. Humans can’t control each other.

“Please Steve, this isn’t you.” Diana pleads, hoping that somehow the control can be broken. Mocking laughter fills the room. Maxwell Lord is eyeing her like a child would eye a new toy it hadn’t figured out yet, like something he hasn’t found the best use for. It makes her skin crawl.

She tries to move, even just a little step. Steve yanks, hard and ruthless, and she stumbles a few steps forward.

“Nice try.” Steve says, giving her a cruel smile. How she wishes to see conflict in his eyes, to notice any struggle in him. To have a sign that the man she loves is still there.

Diana tries to push down the despair she feels. She can overcome this situation. In her head, she hears the warning her mother once gave her about the world of men. She also hears her beloved aunt, urging her to go on, as the fierce amazon she is.

“Steve, fight. Fight as I would. You’re so much better than him.” Diana tries again, putting all the conviction and hope in her speech. Steve’s face shows no reaction and Lord only tsk-tsks and turns around. It’s hard to recognize exactly, but she thinks that he makes a small hand motion.

When he turns around, Diana sees a faint smudge of red around his nose and she fights back the smirk on her lips. So controlling someone does take a toll on him. It can be broken.

“I’m sorry.” Diana hopes that her Steve hears her apology. She clinks her gauntlets together and a small explosion engulfs all three of them in light. It is enough for Steve to lose his guard and loosen his grip around the lasso.

Diana yanks her arms apart in one swift move and the force of it makes Steve release her lasso. Her weapon is in her hands again and she hears him curse under his breath. He draws his gun and shoots at her.

 _Clink. Clink. Clink._ Muscle memory saves her as her body protects her from the bullets, while her heart and mind must process it.

 _Snap out of it, Diana!_ she chides herself. If her theory is right, then she must fight not only for herself, but also for Steve. After there are no more bullets to shoot, Steve drops his gun with a low snarl, moving closer, surely to opt for physical combat.

“Stop.” Lord’s command cuts through the silence and like a puppet whose strings are cut, Steve stops in his movement.

Lord looks displeased at this situation and draws a gun. He doesn’t point it at her, but at Steve. Diana's heart feels as if it has tripped and is now slowly falling. 

“Surrender or he dies. I doubt that he will come back a second time.” Lord commands. His voice has lost the suave charm and has a frantic edge to it. This means that he feels backed into a corner, but desperate people do desperate things.

“There is no way you’re going to win.” Diana tries to reason with him. “Please surrender.” She makes one step towards Lord, towards Steve, the latter showing no sign of life. If he didn’t breathe, one might think him a mannequin.

A bullet flies through the air, barely missing Steve’s right temple. Diana freezes.

“The next one hits.” His lips are stained red with the blood dripping down from his nose. Bloody lips, bloodier words.

“No.” Diana almost doesn’t hear Steve, only notices him turning around. Another gunshot.

Lord’s words come true. Steve falls on his knees. Diana’s scream shatters the screen of the TV, the windows, and Lord’s plans. She twists her lasso to trap him and then knots it around a shelf, to make sure he stays where she wants him to be.

She rushes to Steve’s side, who’s half-kneeling, half-lying on the ground, his hands crimson from the blood that flees his body.

“No, no, no!” Diana repeats helplessly as she applies more pressure to Steve’s wound. She would give anything to make the blood flow back into Steve’s body, to seal the skin that has been torn.

“Diana, stop.” Steve pants as he lets go off his wound to put his bloody hands on hers, squeezing it. “We know how this will end.”

“Don’t give up now.” Diana’s words sound hollow, even to herself. She has come to know human anatomy well, a consequence of fighting in many wars. She knows that such a wound needs immediate medical attention, and even then, chances are slim.

“I’m sorry he got me.” Steve’s apology twists her heart. He’s the wounded one. She should have been more on her guard, she should have found a way to subdue Lord faster… This is her fault.

“I’m sorry I let him.” It felt good to let the dark thoughts into the world. Is she seeking his absolution? She doesn’t know. She aches to do something, but there is nothing here, in the middle of nowhere, that could save Steve.

“I’m sorry I have to leave so soon.” Steve’s words have become slightly slurred, quiet against his ragged breaths. His eyes, ever the clear sky, are a sharp contrast to his ashen skin. “I wish we could have seen more art.”

The memory of the trash can makes her chuckle. Steve cups her face with one hand and she feels the blood on her cheek. She gives in, tilting her head towards his hand, giving him and herself the solace they need.

“I wish we had more time.” A cruel echo. A fitting phrase. A last declaration.

Steve’s hand leaves her cheek and drops down. Diana’s heart shatters and she allows the tears to fall. She permits herself to grieve for the man who has come back to her, only to be ripped away from her again.


End file.
